Work

Environmental Justice and the Health of Children

Year: 2010

Type: article

Abstract: Environmental injustice is the inequitable and disproportionately heavy exposure of poor, minority, and disenfranchised populations to toxic chemicals and other environmental hazards. Environmental injustice contributes to disparities in health status across populations of differing ethnicity, race, and socioeconomic status. Infants and children, because of their unique biological vulnerabilities and age-related patterns of exposure, are especially vulnerable to the health impacts of environmental injustice. These impacts are illustrated by sharp disparities across children of different racial and ethnic backgrounds in the prevalence of 3 common diseases caused in part by environmental factors: asthma, lead poisoning, and obesity. Documentation of linkages between health disparities and environmental injustice is an important step toward achieving environmental justice.

Source: Mount Sinai Journal of Medicine A Journal of Translational and Personalized Medicine

DOI: 10.1002/msj.20173

Authors: Philip J. Landrigan, Virginia A. Rauh, Maida P. Galvez

Institutions: Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, Columbia University

Language: English

Topic: Environmental Justice and Health Disparities

Subfield: Sociology and Political Science

Field: Social Sciences

Domain: Social Sciences

SDGs: Reduced inequalities, Good health and well-being

Open Access status: green

Funder: National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences